Oral Tradition and Biblical Studies Began with His Dissertation, Later Published As Oral Formulaic Language in the Biblical Psalms (1967)

About the Authors

Roderick Beaton (King’s College London) has carried on ﬁ eldwork on Greek oral poetry in many parts of Greece and Cyprus and is the author of Folk Poetry of Modern Greece (1980). He has researched and published extensively on Greek literature dating from the twelfth century to the present and on modern Greek folk music. His current research project is a book entitled The Medieval Greek Romance.

Robert Culley’s interest in oral tradition and Biblical studies began with his dissertation, later published as Oral Formulaic Language in the Biblical Psalms (1967). In addition to the general problem of the applicability of this approach to the Bible, he has touched on similar areas in Studies in the Structure of Hebrew Narrative (1976) and plans further commentary in a Proppian study of narrative action now underway. He is presently Professor of Religious Studies at McGill University.

In 1963 Eric Havelock’s landmark book Preface to Plato revolutionized the way we read both Homer and other ancient Greek literature by making the case for the “oral encyclopedia” of cultural attitudes, values, and beliefs that was “published” in oral performance. A collection of his seminal writings, The Literate Revolution in Greece and Its Cultural Consequences (1982), has since appeared, as has a fascinating study of the Presocratics (1983). He is Sterling Professor of Classics (Emeritus) at Yale University.

Burton Raffel (University of Denver), author of some forty books on an enormous variety of literary subjects, has given us classic translations of some of our most cherished works, such as Beowulf, Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, and many more. He is a practicing poet, literary critic, ﬁ ction writer, and editor, and spent some years as a lawyer on Wall Street. Among his present projects are a verse translation of Chrétien’s Yvain and Readings and Documents in the History of Prosody.

Frederick Turner (University of Texas, Dallas), former editor of the Kenyon Review, is at home in anthropology and modern science as well as literary studies. He also is a well- published poet, whose book-length epic poem The New World appeared in 1985. His essays range from an examination of reﬂ exivity in Thoreau to a study of space and time in Chinese verse, and on to the collection entitled Natural Classicism (1985). 152

Meetings and Professional Notes

Some of the meetings summarized below will receive fuller treatment in subsequent issues of Oral Tradition. Readers are encouraged to write to the editor about notices and reports of conferences they attend.

July 22-25, 1985

ORAL TRADITION AND LITERACY: CHANGING VISIONS OF THE WORLD, University of Natal, South Africa

Albert B. Lord (Harvard University), “Words Heard and Words Seen” R. Whitaker (University of Natal), “Oral and Literary Elements in Homer’s Epics” W. J. Henderson (Rand Afrikaans University), “Oral Elements in Solon’s Poetry” T. J. Gasinski (University of South Africa), “Oral Tradition in Early Russian Literature” L. Peeters (University of Pretoria), “Syntax and Rhythm in the Song of Roland: Evidence of a Changing Vision of the World?” P. Buchholz (University of South Africa), “The Devil’s Deceptions: Pagan Scandinavian ‘Witchdoctors’ and Their God in Medieval Christian Perspective” A. E. Stewart Smith (University of Cape Town), “Non-aristocratic Poetry: The World Beyond Beowulf” M. P. Bezuidenhout (University of Port Elizabeth), “Oral Tradition in Medieval Church Songs, with Special Reference to Manuscript Gray 64 in the South African Library” B. S. Lee (University of Cape Town), “Margery Kempe: An Articulate Illiterate” J. Neethling (Rand Afrikaans University), “From ‘Griot’ to Folk-tale: The Tales of Amadou Koumba by Birago Diop” A. Wynchank (University of Cape Town), “From the Spoken Word to the Book—A Study of the Oral Tradition in A. Kourouma’s Novel, The Suns of Independence” B. J. Soko (University of Malawi), “Translating Oral Literature into European Languages” E. R. Jenkins (Vista University), “Marguerite Poland and the Tradition of Anthropomorphism in Animal Stories” D. M. Moore (University of Fort Hare), “Oral Testimony and a Community in Transition” C. de Wet (Rhodes University), “Perceptions of Village History (1880-1950)” R. Thornton (University of Cape Town), “Bleek’s Recording of the ‘Hottentot’ and Later Bushman Literature” 153

D. Dargie (Lumko Missiological Institute), “Problems of Music Literacy: Gains and Losses” G. J. M. Hutchings (University of Transkei), “Home-made Furniture: The Oral Tradition in English and Academic Attitudes” F. Moto (University of Malawi), “From Oral Tradition to the Written Word: The Malawian Experience” J. Opland (University of South Africa), “The Transition from Oral to Written in Xhosa Literature” A. T. Cope (University of Natal), “Literacy and the Oral Tradition” R.. Belcher (University of Natal), “From Literature to Oral Tradition and Back: The Griqua Case-History” Elizabeth Gunner (School of Oriental and African Studies, London), “‘The praises I have spoken for you are written in our great book at Ekuphakameni’: The Word, the Book, and the Zulu Church of Nazareth” J. Hodgson (University of Cape Town), “Fluid Assets and Fixed Investments: 160 Years of the Ntsikana Tradition” V. Erlmann (University of Natal), “Colonial Conquest and Popular Response in Northern Cameroun, 1896-1907. How Literature Becomes Oral Literature” P. McAllister (Rhodes University), “Conservatism as Ideology of Resistance among Xhosa- Speakers: The Implication for Oral Tradition and Literacy” K. Tomaselli (University of Natal), “From Orality to Visuality” Bruce Merry (University of the Witwatersrand), “Grafﬁ ti Wall Markings as an Alternative to Literacy and the Book” C. S. de Beer (University of Zululand), “Nature, Culture, Writing”

This conference also included a performance of Nguni oral poetry by the Xhosa imbongi David Manisi and an explanation of the performance by Drs. Cope, Lord, Opland, and Gunner.

July 29-August 1, 1985

QUESTIONS OF ORALITY AND LITERACY: A TRIBUTE TO WALTER J. ONG, S. J., Rockhurst College, Kansas City, MO

Thomas J. Farrell, S. J., “Father Ong and the Paschal Sense of Life” Walter J. Ong, S. J. (St. Louis University), “Opening Remarks about Orality and Literacy” Eric A. Havelock (Yale University, Emeritus), “The Discovery of Orality” Bruce A. Rosenberg (Brown University), “The Oral Tradition” James M. Curtis (University of Missouri/Columbia), “Coming of Age in the Global Village” Paolo Valesio (Yale University), “Listening: A Central Category for Renewal of Rhetorical Study” William J. Kennedy (Cornell University), “‘Voice’ and ‘Address’ in Literary Theory” Randolph F. Lumpp (Regis College), “Catholicity, Literacy, and Commerce: Change and Invention” 154

H. G. Haile (University of Illinois/Urbana), “From Humanism to Humanity: The Early Modern in Germany” John Miles Foley (University of Missouri/Columbia), “Preliterate Education: Oral Epic Paideia” John G. Rechtien, S. M. (St. Mary’s University), “The Ramist Style of John Udall: Audience, Logic, and Social Formation” Albert B. Lord (Harvard University), “Characteristics of Orality” Robert Kellogg (University of Virginia), “The Harmony of Time in Paradise Lost” Thomas J. Farrell, S. J., “Early Christian Creeds and Arianism in the Light of Orality- Literacy Studies” Frans Jozef Van Beeck (Loyola University of Chicago), “Dogma and Rahner’s Treatment of Dogma in the Light of Orality-Literacy Studies” Elias L. Rivers (SUNY at Stony Brook), “Two Functions of Social Discourse” Thomas J. Steele, S. J. (Regis College), “Orality and Literacy in Matter and Form: Ben Franklin’s Way to Wealth” Harold M. Stahmer (University of Florida), “Speech Is the Body of the Spirit: The Oral Hermeneutic in the Writings of Eugen Rosenstock-Huessy” Deborah Tannen (Georgetown University), “Literate Genres and Their Relationship to Oral Language” Werner H. Kelber (Rice University), “The Authority of the Word in St. John’s Gospel” Dennis P. Seniff (Michigan State University), “Orality, Literacy, and the Rise of Castilian Narrative: 1200-1500” Ruth El Saffar (University of Illinois/Chicago), “Stylistic and Structural Implications of the Presence of the Feminine in Cervantes” Walter J. Ong, S. J., “Orality-Literacy Studies and the Unity of the Human Race”

Many of the papers from the Ong Symposium will appear in a special Festschrift issue of Oral Tradition in January 1987 (volume 2, no. 1).

September 8-6, 1985

INTERNATIONAL FOLK EPIC CONFERENCE: A COMMEMORATION OF KALEVALA 1835-1985, University College, Dublin, Ireland

This conference also marked the ﬁ ftieth anniversary of the founding of the Irish Folklore Commission.

Felix J. Oinas (Indiana University), “Elements of Eastern Origin in the Kalevala” H. T. Norris (University of London), “Folk Epic in the Wilderness: Arabia and the Nordic World” Isidore Okpewho (University of Ibadan), “Once Upon a Kingdom: Benin in the Heroic Tradition of Subject Peoples” Caoimhin Ó Nualláin (University College Dublin), “The Functioning of Long Formulae in Irish Heroic Folktales” 155

Ahmet Edip Uysal (Middle East Technical University, Ankara), “The Use of the Supernatural in the Turkish Epics of Dede Korkut and Koroghlu” Mortan Nolsøe (Academia Faroensis), “The Heroic Ballad in Faroese Tradition” John Miles Foley (University of Missouri/Columbia), “Formula in Yugoslav and Comparative Folk Epic: Structure and Function” Albert B. Lord (Harvard University), “The Kalevala, South Slavic Epic, and Homer” Stuart Blackburn (Dartmouth College), “A Folk Ramayana in South India: Textual Transmission and Local Ideology” Jan Knappert (University of London), “The Metre of Epic Poetry” John Smith (Cambridge University), “Use of Formulaic Language in Indian Oral Epic Verse” Robin Gwyndaf (Welsh Folk Museum, Cardiff), “The Welsh Folk Epic Tradition–Continuity and Function” Lauri Honko (University of Turku), “Kalevala—History and Myth” Olli Alho (Finnish Film Archive, Helsinki), “Kalevala’s Cultural Background in the Finland of 1835” Heinrich Wagner (Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies), “The Origins of Finno-Ugric Poetry” Dáithí Ó hógáin (University College Dublin), “Magical Attributes of the Hero in Fenian Lore” Joseph Falaky Nagy (University of California/Los Angeles), “Fenian Heroes and Their Rites of Passage” Proinsias Mac Cana (University College Dublin), “The Evolution of the Finnaíocht in pre- Norman Times” John Mac Ines (University of Edinburgh), “Twentieth-century Recordings of Scottish Gaelic Heroic Ballads” Derrick Thomson (University of Glasgow), “MacPherson’s ‘Ossian’—Ballads to Epics” Donald Meek (University of Edinburgh), “Development and Degeneration in Gaelic Ballad Texts” Alan Bruford (University of Edinburgh), “Oral and Literary Fenian Tales” Rolf Baumgarten (Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies), “The Role of Placenames in the Structure and Development of the Finn Cycle” William Gillies (University of Edinburgh), “Heroes and Ancestors: Some Thoughts on the Status of the Fenians in Gaelic Tradition” Pádraig Ó Fiannachta (St. Patrick’s College), “The Development of the Debate Between Patrick and Oisín” John Mac Queen (University of Edinburgh), “Epic Elements in Early Welsh and Scottish Hagiography” Svetozar Koljević. (University of Sarajevo), “Formulaic Anachronisms and Their Epic Function” David Erlingsson (University of Iceland), “Prose and Verse in Icelandic Legendary Fiction”

The papers from the Dublin conference will be published in Béaloideas: The Journal of the Folklore of Ireland Society in late 1986. 156

September 10-15, 1985

XV MEDJUNARODNI NAUČNI SASTANAK SLAVISTA U VUKOVE DANE (XV INTERNATIONAL SCHOLARLY CONFERENCE OF SLAVISTS IN COMMEMORATION OF VUK KARADŽIĆ) Beograd, Priština, and Tršić, Yugoslavia

Fully 85 scholarly papers were scheduled to be read at this conference, which had as twin themes (a) “The Dependent Clause in the Serbo-Croatian Language (from both Synchronic and Diachronic Perspectives)” and (b) “Processes and Forms of Narration in Oral and Written Literature.” I list below only a few of the papers that are of special interest for our readership.

Maja Bošković-Stulli (University of Zagreb), “Fluidity of Form in Oral Narration” Novak Kilibarda (University of Nikšić), “The Artistic Structure of the Folktale Epo s onoga svijeta” Nada Milošević-Djordjević (University of Belgrade), “Oral Expression in an Early Notation on the Battle of Kosovo” Imola Kiloš (Budapest), “Oral Tradition and Peasant Literacy” John Miles Foley (University of Missouri/Columbia), “Indo-European Meter and the Serbo-Croatian Deseterac” Svetozar Koljević (University of Sarajevo), “Parodic Forms of Epic Narration in the Tales of Petar Kočić”

All papers will be published in the annual series, Naučni sastanak slavista u Vukove dane (University of Belgrade).

October 16-20, 1985

AMERICAN FOLKLORE SOCIETY, Cincinnati, OH

Symposium: Oral Tradition: Current Issues and a New Journal” (mod. John Miles Foley) Featured Speakers: D. K. Wilgus and Eleanor R. Long (University of California/Los Angeles)

December 27-30, 1985

MODERN LANGUAGE ASSOCIATION OF AMERICA, Chicago, IL

“Oral Tradition: Current Issues and a New Journal, I” (mod. John Miles Foley) Albert B. Lord (Harvard University), “Oral Literature: Comparative Perspectives” Joseph F. Nagy (University of California/Los Angeles), “Orality in Medieval Irish Narrative” Susan Blader (Dartmouth College), “Storytelling in China” 157

“Oral Tradition: Current Issues and a New Journal, II” (mod. John Miles Foley) Burton Raffel (University of Denver), “On Translating Oral Literature” Ward Parks (Louisiana State University), “Oral-Formulaic Studies and Middle English Literature” Alain Renoir (University of California/Berkeley), “New Directions in Oral-Formulaic Studies”

“The Oral Context of Medieval Literature” (mod. Betsy Bowden) Papers: Eric Rutledge (U.C. Berkeley) Eliza M. Ghil (University of New Orleans) Linda S. Lefkowitz (Lehigh University) Stephen O. Glosecki (University of Alabama) Wendy Pfeffer (University of Louisville) William A. Quinn (University of Arkansas) Discussants: Stanley J. Kahrl (Ohio State University) Martin Stevens (Baruch College, CUNY) Robert P. Creed (Univ. of Massachusetts) Joseph Duggan (U.C. Berkeley) John Miles Foley (U. of Missouri/Col.)

“Oral Discourse” (selections) (mod. Donald M. Lance) Anne R. Bower (University of Pennsylvania), “Temporal Order and Turn-Taking in Oral Narrative” Barbara Johnstone Koch (Indiana and Purdue Universities), “Contextualization in Spontaneous Story-Telling: Shared Structures and Individual Structuring” Violeta Kelertas (University of Illinois/Chicago Circle), “Features of Oral and Written Discourse” Winifred Bryan Horner (Texas Christian University), “Time and Place in Written and Spoken Language” Michael S. Macovski (Dartmouth College), “Oral vs. Written Discourse: The Orality of the Written Text”

March 13-15, 1985

CONFERENCE ON COLLEGE COMPOSITION AND COMMUNICATION, New Orleans, Louisiana

“Theories of Oral Composition and the Teaching of Writing” (mod. Leslie C. Perelman, Tulane University) 158

Books Received

Allen, Rosamund, ed. King Horn: An Edition Based on Cambridge University Library MS Gg. 4.27 (2). Garland Medieval Texts. New York: Garland, 1984. Bauman, Richard. Verbal Art as Performance. 1977; rpt. Prospect Heights, IL: Waveland Press, 1984. Buss, Fran Leeper, comp. Dignity: Lower Income Women Tell of Their Lives and Struggles. Intro. by Susan Contratto. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 1985. Carnes, Pack. Fable Scholarship: An Annotated Bibliography, Garland Folklore Bibliographies, 8. New York: Garland, 1985. Edmunds, Lowell and Alan Dundes, eds. Oedipus: A Folklore Casebook. Garland Folklore Casebooks, 4. New York: Garland, 1983. Evers, Larry, ed. The South Corner of Time: Hopi, Navajo, Papago, Yaqui Tribal Literature. Sun Tracks series. Tucson: University of Arizona Press, 1980, 3rd ptg. 1983. ______, ed. Between Sacred Mountains: Navajo Stories and Lessons from the Land. Sun Tracks Series, 11. 1982; rpt. Tucson: University of Arizona Press, 1984. Fine, Elizabeth C. The Folklore Text: From Performance to Print. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1984. Foley, John Miles. Oral-Formulaic Theory and Research: An Introduction and Annotated Bibliography. Garland Folklore Bibliographies, 6; Garland Reference Library of the Humanities, 400. New York: Garland, 1985. Ford, Patrick K., ed. Celtic Folklore and Christianity: Studies in Memory of William W. Heist. Santa Barbara, CA: McNally and Loftin [for the Center for the Study of Comparative Folklore and Mythology, University of California Los Angeles], 1983. Gossen, Gary H. Chamulas in the World of the Sun: Time and Space in a Maya Oral Tradition. 1974; rpt. Prospect Heights, IL: Waveland Press, 1984. Hinton, Leanne and Lucille J. Watahomigie, eds. Spirit Mountain: An Anthology of Yuman Story and Song. Sun Tracks series, 10. Tucson: University of Arizona Press, 1984. Jeffreys, E. M. and M. J. Jeffreys. Popular Literature in Byzantium. London: Variorum Reprints, 1983. ______, M. J. Jeffreys, and Ann Moffatt, eds. Byzantine Papers: Proceedings of the First Australian Byzantine Studies Conference, Canberra, 17-19 May 1978. Canberra: Humanities Research Centre, Australian National University, 1981. Mair, Victor H. Tun-huang Popular Narratives. Cambridge Studies in Chinese History, Literature, and Institutions. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1983. Malotki, Ekkehart, rec. and trans. Hopitutuwutsi/Hopi Tales: A Bilingual Collection of Hopi Indian Stories. Narrated by Herschel Talashoma. Sun Tracks series, 9. 1978; rpt. Tucson: University of Arizona Press, 1983. 159

Maxwell, Kevin B. Bemba Myth and Ritual: The Impact of Literacy on an Oral Culture. American University Studies, series IX, vol. 2. New York: Peter Lang, 1983. Mieder, Wolfgang. International Proverb Scholarship: An Annotated Bibliography. Garland Folklore Bibliographies, 3; Garland Reference Library of the Humanities, 342. New York: Garland, 1982. ______and Alan Dundes, eds. The Wisdom of Many: Essays on the Proverb. Garland Folklore Casebooks, 1. New York: Garland, 1981. Nagy, Joseph Falaky. The Wisdom of the Outlaw: The Boyhood Deeds of Finn in Gaelic Narrative Tradition. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1985. Oinas, Felix J. Studies in Finnic Folklore: Homage to the Kalevala, Suomalaisen Kirjallisuuden Seuran, 387; Finnish Literature Society, Indiana University Uralic and Altaic Series, 147. Helsinki: Suomalaisen Kirjallisuuden Seuran, 1985. Olsen, Alexandra Hennessey. Speech, Song, and Poetic Craft: The Artistry of the Cynewulf Canon. American University Studies, series IV, vol. 15. New York: Peter Lang, 1984. Opland, Jeff. Xhosa Oral Poetry: Aspects of a Black South African Tradition. Cambridge Studies in Oral and Literate Culture, 7. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1983. Orbell, Margaret. Hawaiki: A New Approach to Maori Tradition, University of Canterbury Publications, 35. Christchurch, New Zealand: University of Canterbury, 1985. Pešić, Radmila and Nada Milošević-Djordjević. Narodna književnost. Biblioteka Čovek i Reč. Belgrade: “Vuk Karadžić,” 1984. Reiss, Edmund, Louise Homer Reiss, and Beverly Taylor. Arthurian Legend and Literature: An Annotated Bibliography. Vol. I: The Middle Ages. Garland Reference Library of the Humanities, 415. New York: Garland, 1984. Robb, Kevin, ed. Language and Thought in Early Greek Philosophy. La Salle, IL: The Hegeler Institute, 1983. Sexton, James D., ed. Son of Tecún Umán: A Maya Indian Tells His Story. Tucson: University of Arizona Press, 1981, rpt. 1985. ______, trans. and ed. Campesino: The Diary of a Guatemalan Indian. Tucson: University of Arizona Press, 1985. Sherzer, Joel. Kuna Ways of Speaking: An Ethnographic Perspective. Texas Linguistics Series. Austin: University of Texas Press, 1983. Smith, Bonnie G. Confessions of a Concierge: Madame Lucie’s History of Twentieth Century France. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1985. Swann, Brian, ed. Smoothing the Ground: Essays on Native American Oral Literature. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1983. Tsopanakis, Agapitos G. Homeric Researches: From the Prosodic Irregularity to the Construction of the Verse. Thessaloniki, 1983. Vansina, Jan. Oral Tradition as History. Madison: University of Wisconsin Press, 1985.

Journals Oral and Written Traditions in the Middle Ages, a special issue of New Literary History, 16, i (Autumn 1984).